Reclaiming a Stolen Unity: The Case for Pan-Arabism

posted on: Jan 14, 2026

By: Taim Al-Faraje / Arab America Contributing Writer

In modern times, Arabs tend to isolate their country’s identities. When an Arab is asked where they’re from, they simply respond with the name of their country. A Syrian says he’s from Syria, an Egyptian says he’s from Egypt, a Moroccan says he’s from Morocco, so on and so forth. Although this seems given, as that’s what all people tend to do, Arab countries aren’t comparable to other, particularly European countries in a national identity sense. Rivers and mountains naturally created European country borders. On a map like the one above, the origins of these borders become immediately clear. Certain nations would occupy the majority of a landmass, and the river or mountain range that separates them from another nation would be the border between those two nation-states.  

On the other hand, Arab country borders are completely artificial and were drawn by the West to sow conflict and division. In reality, Arabs should respond to the posed question with “Arab.” Saying otherwise is comparable to an American not saying they’re American when asked where they’re from, but saying they’re “Californian” or “Texan.” Minor differences don’t set apart the fact that these countries all house one nation of people. For Arabs, this mindset reveals that colonialism divided not only their lands, but their way of thinking. This article will detail why.

What is a Nation State?

A nation-state is a country whose population consists of a single nation, typically with shared cultural and political history, such as in their food, dress, religion, etc.

Almost all European countries are nation-states. Germans make up 85% of Germany, Frenchmen make up 77% of France, Spaniards make up 90% of Spain, etc. The majority of these countries consist primarily of the nation they are named after, and those populations are not widely present in neighboring states. It’s also important to point out that the people from these nations don’t have much in common with those of other nations; at least not in the way they share culture with those from their nation. 

This is the main difference between Arabs and Europeans in this sense. The Arab world is not made up of nation-states. Arabs across the Arab World share all aspects of a culture that create a Nation. This is why deciphering modern-day Arab borders on a borderless map is nearly impossible. Just look at the map below. Half the borders are straight lines that lie right on top of deserts, holding no tangible significance.

Why Are Arab Borders Senseless?

An array of empires controlled the Arab world, including the Rashiduns, whose expansion out of the Arabian Peninsula created the Arab identity, the Umayyads, the Fatimids, and the Ottomans. Throughout these times, borders occasionally shifted depending on the extent of the empire. However, Arabs continued to share political and military struggles. 

After the Ottoman Empire lost its Arab territories to Britain following the Arab Revolt and World War I, Britain assumed control over how Arab lands would be governed and administered. Although Britain originally promised the Arabs a connected empire stretching from Aleppo to Aden under Sharif Hussein, it later broke that promise by signing the secret Sykes–Picot Agreement with France, dividing Arab lands into colonies ruled by the two powers. This was also the period when the British promised Baron Lionel Walter Rothschild, a zionist and friend of the future first president of Israel, a “national home for the Jewish people” in Palestine. 

Sykes-Picot Agreement

The Sykes–Picot Agreement famously split the Greater Syria region between Britain and France, betraying the Arabs. This conference did not have the interest or input of the Arabs in the slightest, focusing solely on Western aspirations. For the first time, Arab countries imposed strict borders between one another, installed separate leaders who often became enemies, and, most importantly, shaped their political structures and laws to serve their colonizers, surrendering rights and resources in the process. The Arab people would lose their unity, sovereignty, and far more. 

Between World Wars I and II, the Arab lands would remain colonized, as their colonial borders began to solidify. It wasn’t until after World War II that Arab anti-colonial movements began winning their battles, whether diplomatically or by force. When these countries became independent, they had to work their way from the ground up, as centuries of Ottoman neglect and Western colonization had put the Arabs behind. Education, military, economic, and social factors of these countries were lackluster, and would likely continue to lack in the form of a corrupt king like in Iraq or with a series of never-ending coups like in Syria. 

The Centuries After Independence

At this point, division overtook the Arab states. Their governments would fight or befriend each other, recognizing the non-existent difference that lies between them. This only advanced illegimate lines that existed between them.

How This Leads to Today

Today, Arabs have completely separated themselves from one another. They think their brother from another modern Arab country is significantly different from them, often thinking negatively of some of their mildly different traits. This effectively puts us on the path to recognizing 22 new nations rather than one unified Arab nation, which is embarrassing, puts us at a major loss, and leaves the complex and beautiful history of the Arab nation in the past.

Cultural differences within the Arab world do exist, but the differences are not enough to make separate nations. In America, for example, the people who live on the West Coast have different slang, accents, food, clothing style, among other differences, from those who live on the East Coast or the South. Despite this, in a political sense, they set aside their differences and recognize that they’re all American, cooperating to create the best and most powerful life for themselves and those around them, their American brothers. 

Pan-Arabism – The Solution

Arabs should strive to do the same. This idea in Arab politics is known as Pan-Arabism: the belief that all Arab countries form a single Arab nation and should ultimately unite into one state, creating a nation-state.

Two of the most famous advocates for Pan-Arabism were Michel Aflaq, the founder of the Arab Ba’ath Movement, and Gamal Abdel Nasser, a leading revolutionary of the 1952 Egyptian Revolution and President of Egypt from 1954-1970. According to Aflaq, “Nationalism is the awareness of the unity of the nation, its past, present, and future; it is the feeling that this unity is a sacred trust” (Fi Sabil al-Ba’ath). Arabs must realize their shared past and come together to overcome their oppressors, as many of their issues were a result of their oppressors, whether Turkish or European, and only the Arabs will have their best interest of themselves in mind.

How Would Unity Look?

In terms of which flavor of unity is the most effective, the debate is wide and continuous. A European Union style unity would not work for the Arabs, as the beauty behind their project is that the countries are different nation-states. They don’t argue that they’re all one, but simply want to be there to defend and strengthen each other. If the Arabs took this on, their differences would exacerbate, and they would eventually separate themselves from each other, accepting that colonial framework. The only unity that could work would be if the Arab states dissolved themselves and took on state governments within a united republic, although this way has proven to be tough.

What’s important is the people. The Arabs will not feel their true freedom until they’re thriving and independent of their oppressors, who extract the wealth, resources, and labor of the Arab world, granting the Arabs nothing in return. This must be put to an end, no matter the circumstances, to achieve true justice.

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